CHOCOLATE Y SALUD / CHOCOLATE AND HEALTH

Hi my friends, I'm here again cause I'd like to share with you a newspaper article about CHOCOLATE.
I love chocolate! and finally I'm right when I say that eating chocolate is a healthy habit  because it has just been demonstrated that chocolate is good for our health!

Hola amigos, aquí estoy otra vez porque me gustaría compartir con vosotros un artículo de prensa sobre el CHOCOLATE.
¡Me encanta el chocolate! y al final tengo razón cuando digo que comer chocolate es un hábito saludable  porque se acaba de  demostrar  ahora que el chocolate es bueno para nuestra salud.

FROM THE NEWSPAPER / del periódico:    www.abc.es/sociedad  (October, 26th)

THE MORE YOU CONSUME  CHOCOLATE, THE LESS CORPORAL MASS YOU HAVE GOT.
A MAYOR CONSUMO DE CHOCOLATE, MENOS GRASA CORPORAL.

It's a University of Granada 's study.
Es un estudio de la Universidad de Granada.

CHOCOLATE, OUR SWEET AND HEALTHY  FRIEND!
If you are a chocolate addict, you can breath quietly!  A research team from the University of Granada  (Spain) has demonstrated that chocolate doesn't make you fatten.

The study shows us that a high consumption of this product is associated with slower levels of corporal mass (your whole body) no matter your personal diet or if you practice sport regularly.

The study we are talking about, has been done by researchers from the Medicine Faculty and Sport Sciences and has been published this week in the magazine "Nutrition".

Scientists analysed whether a higher consumption of chocolate is associated with   a less level of body fat, mainly in teenagers who were the ones who participated in this study.

The results showed that a higher consumption of chocolate was associated with less levels of total fat.

1,458 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old were analysed. Different sexes, ages, different diets, etc.

It doesn't matter if chocolate is considered a food which gives us a lot of energy because of sugar and saturated fats that it contains  because current studies and investigations suggest that its consumption provides a less heart  illness risk .  In fact, chocolate has got flavonoids which contain plenty of healthy benefits, it is to say : chocolate is antirust, anti-inflammatory, it controls hypertension and prevents  cardiovascular problems.

At  University of California, some scientists have developped a study which demonstrates that the more you eat chocolate, the less corporal mass you have got.  This effect could be produced by a flavonoid called "catequina" which has an influence on the production of "cortisol" directly relationed with obesity and overweight!

AND CHOCOLATE IS DELICIOUS!

SO, WE CAN INCLUDE IN OUR DIET, A CHOCOLATE OR ONE OR TWO PIECES OF CHOCOLATE EVERY DAY! AND A CUP OF HOT CHOCOLATE FROM TIME TO TIME!

                                                 ******************************

A MAYOR CONSUMO DE CHOCOLATE, MENOR GRASA CORPORAL

**Investigadores de la Universidad de Granada (España) desmontan la creencia de que este alimento engorda.

Los adictos al chocolate pueden estar tranquilos.  Un equipo de investigadores de la Universidad de Granada ha desmontado la creencia de que comer chocolate puede hacernos engordar.  El estudio demuestra que un alto consumo de este producto está asociado a niveles más bajos de grasa total (la de todo el cuerpo).  Y ello con independencia de la dieta o de si se practica algún deporte.

El trabajo realizado por investigadores de la Facultad de Medicina y de la de Ciencias del Deporte  ha sido publicado esta semana en la revista "Nutrition".

Los científicos  analizaron si un mayor consumo de chocolate se asocia con un mayor índice de  grasa corporal total.

1.458 adolescentes entre 12 y 17 años fueron analizados. Diferentes sexos, edades, dietas, etc.

No importa si el chocolate se considera un alimento que da mucha energía a causa del azúcar y las grasas saturadas que contiene  porque estudios e investigaciones recientes sugieren que su consumo proporciona un menor riesgo de enfermedades de corazón. De hecho, el chocolate contiene flavonoides que tienen múltiples beneficios para la salud, es decir: el chocolate es antioxidante, antiinflamatorio, controla la hipertensión y previene problemas cardiovasculares.

En la Universidad de California, científicos han desarrollado un estudio que demuestra que cuanto más chocolate se consume, menos  masa corporal tienes.   Este efecto podría producirse por un flavonoide llamado "catequina" que tiene influencia en la producción de "cortisol" directamente relacionado con la obesidad y el sobrepeso.

¡Y ADEMÁS EL CHOCOLATE ESTÁ DELICIOSO!

Así que, con moderación, podemos incluir un bombón ,  uno o dos cuadritos de chocolate al día y una taza de chocolate caliente de vez en cuando.

STRANGE SLANG / El extraño lenguaje de la calle RABBIT! RABBIT!

Hi my dear friends, in Madrid today it's raining cats and dogs ! so I have thought of  some special and different expressions to show you, especially  SLANG! 
What is Slang?  Slang is the language used by people in the street.  Special ways of saying words and expressions different from the current ones.  
Today, I want to speak about  "COCKNEY" which is the slang from the East of London.
There we go!

Hola queridos amigos, en Madrid hoy ¡llueve a cántaros! así que he pensado enseñaros algunas expresiones especiales y diferentes ,  especialmente  el lenguaje de la calle o Slang.
¿Qué es el Slang?  El Slang es el lenguaje que utiliza la gente en la calle.  Formas especiales de decir palabras o expresiones,  diferentes de las formas normales o corrientes.
Hoy quiero hablaros sobre el "COCKNEY" que es el lenguaje del Este de Londres.
¡Allá vamos!

Information from SPEAK UP Magazine/Living Language

RABBIT!  RABBIT!

All languages have strange expressions and English is no exception.  For instance, people in England often say "Use your loaf (pan)!  but what they mean is "Use your brain"! or "Use your intelligence"!  or "Use your head!"

Another popular expression is "to rabbit on"  which means  to talk too much.

When people speak too much, you can say "Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!"

LONDON

But why does an animal which can't talk -a rabbit- refer to talking?

And why does a loaf, which normally describes bread, refer to head?

The answer is that they are both examples of COCKNEY rhyming slang (argot que rima).

This is popular in Britain, but also in Australia.
A Cockney is a native of London .  A true Cockney is from the "East End" of London, but today the term covers all of the capital.


HOW DOES IT WORK?

In Cockney rhyming slang you take an expression that rhymes with another word.

For example:  "a loaf of bread" rhymes with "head".  You then remove the part of the phrase that rhymes:  in this case, "of bread", so "loaf" now means "head".

And in the case of "rabbit", the original phrase was "rabbit and pork" which rhymes with "talk".  You then remove the rhyming part -the words "and pork" -so "rabbit" means "talk"

MY OLD FRIEND

Another popular expression in London is "my old China".   This means "My old friend".

In English "mate" is an informal term for a friend and "China plate"  a type of porcelain,  rhymes with "mate".
One more time, you remove the second part of the expression -in this case "plate" - and so china means "mate" or "friend".

PORKIES

And then there is the expression "To tell porkies".  This means to tell lies.  The reason is that "pork pie" rhymes with "lie".
Again you remove the rhyming word "pie" and so "pork" or "porkie" means "lie".


COCKNEY  RHYMES

Here you can see  an announcement in a London shop:


                                                 COCKNEY SPOKEN  'ERE
                                                              We accept:
                    GODIVAS, MONKEYS, PONIES, EDGES, CARPETS AND VISA. 


**Cockney spoken 'ere  means "Cockney spoken here" .  Londoners are famous for not pronouncing the letter "H".  For instance, "Henry" becomes "Enry",  "hat" becomes "at"  and "hello"  becomes "ello".

**A "godiva" (short word for Lady Godiva) rhymes with "fiver" and refers to five pounds.  This is an example of Cockney rhyming slang but the others words are slang terms only.

**A "monkey" is 500 pounds.
**A "pony" is 25 pounds.
**A "carpet" is either  3 pounds or  300 pounds.
**An "edge" is 50 pence.
**And of course VISA is Visa!

It's very interesting and very difficult,  isn't it?

Could you do any cockney rhymes?

Try and tell me!

HAVE A NICE DAY!

SARAJEVO / AN INCREDIBLE STORY / SARAJEVO, UNA HISTORIA INCREÍBLE

Hi my friends, today I would like to share with you an incredible story happened in July, 1992 during the  Bosnia War  in Sarajevo because not all the stories  in a war end badly and there may  even be a bit of hope despite the horror !

Hola queridos amigos, hoy me gustaría compartir con vosotros una historia increíble ocurrida en Julio de 1992 durante la Guerra de Bosnia, en Sarajevo porque no todas las historias en una guerra terminan mal y puede haber incluso un hilo de esperanza a pesar del horror.

AN INCREDIBLE  STORY

SARAJEVO
Michael Nicholson is an English journalist.  He has been reported the horrors of war for 25 years.  When he was sent to Sarajevo in Bosnia, in 1992, he got shocked.  Conditions for children were terrible!

Michael was in Sarajevo at the time to do a report for Britain's Independent Television.  He filmed people killed when they did their shopping in the street and children dying in hospitals.  He was horrified.  He wanted to visit an orphanage too.

MICHAEL MEETS NATASHA
Children were cold, hungry and frightened.  However, they looked at the TV cameras, fascinated.

One little girl stood next to Michael all the time and at a moment he spoke to her:

-"What's your name?" he asked.
-"Natasha, Natasha Milhaljcic".

They spoke through an interpreter.
Natasha was very calm and courageous.

Michael couldn't forget her and he decided that he should save at least one child from Sarajevo.

So, he went back to the orphanage and asked the director if he could take Natasha home with him.
The director said :  " I wish that all my children could go. If they stay here, they will die".
The, she spoke to Natasha and said to Michael:  "Yes, Natasha says that she will go with you".

Now, Michael's problem was: "How can I get her out of Bosnia?"

TO LEAVE SARAJEVO

Michael asked many organizations to help him.  They all said that it was impossible because it was against the regulations.

Finally, he found a woman from a French humanitarian association.  She was taking a convoy of buses to bring children from Sarajevo to safe homes in Italy.

-"May I film it for the television? Michael asked.
-"And may I add the name of Natasha Mihaljcic to the list?
She agreed.

The next day, Michael and Natasha got on the buses with 200 children. Many of them cried because they were unhappy to leave their families and they didn't know where they were going but Natasha did not cry. She had no family, and she knew she was going to a better life.

A DANGEROUS ROAD

The buses had to take little roads in the mountains because of the fighting.  Michale was worried about having an accident and all the time they were afraid of beeing met by Serbian soldiers.

At last, after two days and a night, they reached the city of SPLIT on the coast in Croatia and Michael phoned his wife:

-"Diana, I'm coming home" he said.
-"I'm bringing an orphan from Sarajevo.  Her name is Natasha and you'll love her!"
Diana said:
-"I'm waiting for you".

Michael and Natasha drove to Zagreb.  The next day, Croatia Airlines was flying to London. Would they accept Natasha?
Michael wanted her to look like an English child so he bought her a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and some English comics.  He told her not to speak and he wrote in his passport:  "ACCOMPANIED BY ONE CHILD, DAUGHTER, NATASHA. Born 7 October 1982".

COULD THEY LEAVE BOSNIA?

At the airport, the police looked at Michael's bags.  They hardly looked at his passport.  But when Michael and Natasha started to move on, the police said:
-"Girl, Passport!"
Michael said:
-"No, no! in England children are on their parents'  passports!"  and the police believed him.

Then, as they were walking to the airplane, someone shouted:

-"Stop!"
An immigration officer came to them.
-"Passport! Boarding cards!"  she said.

Michael's heart stopped beating!

Then she daid:
-"Airport tax!  3,000 dinars!"

Michael gave her the money.  He and Natasha got on the airplane.  At last they smiled!

HOME AT LAST!
The officials at Heathrow Airport, London, permitted  Natasha to enter the country.

Michael took her home.  She met her new family:  Michael's wife, their two sons, their dogs.

Now, their home is Natasha's home and she's very happy!


HAVE A NICE DAY MY DEAR FRIENDS!

EVEN,  IN THE MIDDLE OF A TERRIBLE WAR, WE CAN FIND A RAY OF HOPE THANKS TO WONDERFUL  PEOPLE LIKE MICHAEL NICHOLSON!

ENGLISH PHRASES AND GRAMMAR / Frases y gramática en Inglés.

Hi my friends, today we're going to practice some sentences and  a grammar exercise.
Hola amigos, hoy vamos a practicar frases  de español a  inglés y algún  ejercicio gramatical.

The sentences are "a mix" of different tenses of the verbs, comparatives and superlatives, conditional sentences, etc.
Las frases son "una mezcla" de diferentes tiempos verbales, comparativos y superlativos, frases condicionales, etc.

The solutions are following them on this post.
Las soluciones van seguidas de ellas en esta publicación.

There we go!
¡Allá vamos!

WRITE IN ENGLISH, please.
En Inglés.

**El avión llegará media hora tarde.

**Espera un minuto, cerraré la ventana porque tienes frío.

**¿Tienes suficiente dinero para ir al burger?

**Hacía demasiado frío para salir.

**Este es el chico más guapo del mundo.

**Esta es la casa más pequeña de Madrid.

**Ella nunca viene a casa antes de las 10.

**Si estudias, aprobarás el examen.

**Estuve enferma desde Febrero hasta Abril.

**Puedo estudiar por la tarde, pero no me gusta estudiar por la noche.

**Él no debería gritar.

**Deberías ser más amable.

**Elle tendría aproximadamente 30 años.

**¿Te gustaría un pastel de chocolate?

**Ese chico está siempre durmiendo en clase.

**Me gusta jugar al baloncesto.

**El sábado fui de compras con mi tía.

**Yo estaba viendo la tele cuando mi hermana llegó.

AND NOW THE ENGLISH SENTENCES.
Y AHORA LAS FRASES EN INGLÉS.

-The plane will arrive half an hour late.

-Wait  (for) a minute, I'll close the window because you are cold !

-Have you got enough money to go to the burger?

-It was too cold to go out.

-This is the most handsome boy in the world!

-This is the smallest house in Madrid.

-She never comes home before 10.

-If you study,  you'll pass the exam.

-I was ill since February until April.

-I can study in the afternoon/evening but I don't like to study at night.

-He shouldn't shout!

-You should be kinder!

-She might be 30 years old more or less!

-Would you like a chocolate cake?

-That boy is always sleeping in class.

-I like playing basket.

-On Saturday I went shopping with my aunt.

-I was watching T.V. when my sister arrived.


GRAMMAR :  SINCE  /  FOR  /  YET  /  STILL.

SINCE:  desde.
FOR: durante (con periodos de tiempo real, días, años, meses, semanas, horas, minutos, etc)
YET: todavía (en frases negativas y preguntas y siempre va al final de la frase)
STILL: todavía (en frases afirmativas)

Exercise 1
Write in the blank:  Since, For, Yet, Still.

-I haven't seen John  ________ 1992.
-Haven't you finished  lunch ______?
-I've had a bad cold _____ more than a week.
-He has lived in this town _____ 30 years.
-Wait for me please, I'm _______ studying.
-He hasn't made the coffee _______.
-Lucas has waited for you  _______ one hour.
-The baby is _______ crying.
-_______ my birthday, I haven't had any cake!



RIGHT NOW THE SOLUTIONS.
AHORA LAS SOLUCIONES.

-since
-yet
-for
-for
-still
-yet
-for
-still
-since

HAVE A NICE DAY MY DEAR FRIENDS!

¡QUE TENGÁIS UN BUEN DÍA AMIGOS!